Modern human care facilities, such as hospitals and other long and short term facilities for the sick, aged and/or infirm, have a need for a reclining patient support means such as a bed or the like that is comfortable and can reduce the problems and discomfort that a patient may experience due to sores, wounds, fractures, sprains and the like that may be tender to the touch.
In recent years there has been a recognition that air support mattresses can be beneficial to the comfort of a patient and various air support mattress arrangements have been proposed for use in human care facilities to replace the traditional bed mattress.
A particularly interesting air support mattress arrangement comprises a plurality of inflatable air sacks (cells) that are transversely arranged on a specially constructed support frame to constitute a bed. Typically the cells are connected to ports of a header, extending longitudinally along the side of the support frame, which supplies air to the cells and comprise one or more control valves or the like which regulates the amount of air being supplied to the cells. In a typical arrangement air is supplied to one side of the transversely arranged cells on the bed by a longitudinally disposed distribution chamber and air is exhausted from the other side of the cells at the other side of the bed by a corresponding exhaust chamber. Typically, a valve means is located at the exhaust side of the cells to permit regulation of the pressure and/or rate of flow of air through each of the cells or a group of cells.
Typically the distribution of air is to groups of cells, so that cells within a particular group can be provided a particular flow of air and each group of cells is arranged to engage a specific portion of the body of the reclining patient. For example, groups of cells may be arranged proximate the feet, the buttocks, the back, the head or the like of a patient and the pressure within such group of cells would be controllable as may be desired to achieve a particular comfort to all or a portion of the body of a patient reclining thereon.
Various cell designs and various arrangements thereof have been proposed which inflate and/or deflate cells at a particular portion and/or side of the bed. Thus cell designs have been advanced wherein select inflation and/or deflation cause the patient to roll or turn into a position functioning to assist the attendant in turning the patient. Designs and/or arrangements of cells provide for inflating and/or deflating various of the cells in such sequence as to impart a pulsating sensation to the patient lying thereon.
Various attachments to air support mattresses have been provided to allow use of such devices in association with non-adjustable beds. Thus, a pneumatic bellows arrangement has been proposed as an attachment, for use with an air support mattress arranged on a non-adjustable bed wherein articulated cells are in hinged relationship with an adjacent cell, to allow angular pivoting movement of a cell or group of cells of the support mattress. The bellows is arranged to angularly raise a cell or group of cells from a hinged axis, with the axis being arranged to move so as to allow a cell being angled upwardly to separate from a non angling cell and thus reduce the resistance experienced when such cell engages an adjacent cell.
An air support mattress has also been proposed wherein a plurality of transversely arranged cells are either formed of porous material or contain air escape holes that provide air circulation beneath a patient lying thereon. A multiplicity of valves are typically provided for independently controlling air flow to the plurality of cells, requiring multiple adjustments to achieve a steady state air flow at varying cell inflation pressures. The cells rest upon an articulatable bed frame and the supply of air is filtered and temperature controlled.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an air support device which can be easily retro-fitted to both adjustable and non-adjustable standard hospital beds.
It is another object of the invention to provide an air support device which is portable and can be easily and conveniently moved from bed frame to bed frame.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an air support device that will provide air circulation about the body of a patient lying thereon.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a safely reusable air support device, which comprises means for circulation of air about a patient's body.
A further object of the invention is to provide an air support device wherein the support mattress can be quickly and conveniently disconnected from the air supply means for handling and/or storage.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a means for quickly and conveniently removing air from the support mattress for emergency deflation of all or part of the device and/or storage.
Still another further object of the invention is to provide a convenient and power efficient means to control inflation and/or deflation of all or parts of the air support mattress.
Another further object of the invention is to provide an air support mattress that is simple to manufacture and assemble and convenient for user replacement of critical components.
Still another further object is to provide an air support structure that is resistant to bacterial and/or viral reverse infiltration.
Another still further object is to provide a bed comprising an air support device and supporting frame.
Another object of the invention is to provide an air flow means comprising components that can be conveniently and inexpensively replaced and/or decontaminated so that subsequent patients may utilize the air support mattress without significant fear of contamination.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part may be obvious from the description of the invention that follows, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.